Busy days, crazy nights.

I love camp. Love it. It's the best.

I spend all day in a kitchen ("that's where you belong!" says the teenage boy in the crowd) making delicious food (today we made guac, salsa, and quesadillas!) and then I get to sing karaoke with a group of pre-teen girls (far too much T. Swift) and now I can sit back and do laundry. Ah. The life.

But seriously folks. Last night, a group of counselors and I were hot after the decade dance (a little too much Hand Jive Baby.) so we decided to jump in the lake. Why? Because we could. 
And it was awesome. 

On a totally different note, one of the huge things God has been teaching me this summer (and really this past year in general) is that everyone wants love. I mean, this seems like an elementary concept. We all want to be loved and known. I feel like I've seen this first hand though.

I saw it in my classmates, acquaintances, and friends as they strive for the attention of the opposite gender - be that by the way they dress or the way they quote Scripture.

I saw it in Haiti - playing with a kid for 15 minutes and giving them a big hug is all they needed to be glowing from the inside out.

And I see it here. In these American kids whose lives are filled with iPhone 5 cellphones, all the Lilly Pulitzer they could want, and parents that only pay half-attention. I see it. 

I feel like I finally get it. Like the constant "Gibbs-style" thumping on the back of my head makes sense. They all just want love. And they seek it in empty places. I do it too! I have to continually remind myself to not seek for it in the approving gestures of my peers or the thumbs-up from my superiors, I need, need, to seek from the only source that will truly satisfy that longing. Anywhere else is dry, dusty land. 

The compelling love of Christ.

God's evidence shines through in every aspect of camp. Seriously.

Whether I'm walking to breakfast in the morning, singing worship music in the Pavillion, or making banana pudding with campers, He's everywhere! 

 ** Sidenote: I have made 12 batches of banana pudding in two days. I'm basically a pro.**

Throughout the past few days my devotions have been focused on Christ's love and how His love is greater than all else. To put in into context, let me share a few verses:

II Corinthians 5:14-17
"14For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!"

Philippians 3:7-9
"7But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith inChrist—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. "

I love it. God is seeking me, desiring me, and longing after me. I desire for Him to be everything, and all else to be nothing compared to the great love that He has for me.
Obviously this is a daily struggle. Whether it's girls talking during morning assembly or one of the campers dropping their banana pudding on the floor (for the 3rd time!) I can laugh it off and let girls be girls - because all of this is nothing compared to the glories ahead.

Ah. It's beauteous.

Lastly, in Psalm 34, it states "those who seek the Lord lack no good thing". At first I'm all "whoopie! I lack no good thing!" and then it dawns on me the conditional part of that statement, "those who seek the Lord". I have to challenge myself daily to seek the Lord and to consistently be in the Word and in prayer talking to God. The routine has become easier with camp getting into the swing of things.

I can't wait to see all the glorious things God has in His plan for this summer. I'm already in love with the girls I'm living with and the campers that I'm interacting with. One of them said I was (and I quote) "really cool" today! What more could a girl ask for! :)

They're awesome. God is awesome. All is well.